Ralph Nader Responds to ColorLines

By Ralph Nader,5 October 2000

On August 17, 2000, ColorLines published an article by Vanessa Daniel
criticizing presidential candidate Ralph Nader for downplaying issues
of race and racism in his campaign, and calling on him to make these
crucial issues central to his campaign and the public debate
surrounding the election. That article can be accessed at
<http://colorlines.com>http://colorlines.<http://colorlines.com>com. Today
we received the following response from Mr. Nader.

After reading the ColorLines article entitled "Ralph Nader's
Racial Blindspot" written by Vanessa Daniel, I want to respond and
describe my record on advocating for the rights of people of color.
Issues concerning racism have been central to the work I have done in
the past, and continue to the present day.

I have been very critical of the criminal justice system, which is
highly discriminatory against people of color. Ever since I was a law
student, I have opposed the death penalty--unlike Gore and Bush, who
both support state sanctioned murder. It has been shown on numerous
occasions that people of color disproportionately receive the death
sentence.

The lack of competent legal services for the poor results in an
unequal justice system. Those who cannot afford competent legal
counsel are more likely to receive harsher sentencing. In addition,
racism inherent in the criminal justice system results in harsher
sentencing of people of color. Racial biases of some judges play a
role in sentencing.

Other criminal justice matters that require attention as human rights
and civil rights violations include racial profiling, illegal police
violence, the prison industrial complex, and the war on drugs. Racial
profiling, a blatantly discriminatory practice, is not a legitimate
law-enforcement technique. It denies individuals of equal treatment.
Where is "equal protection under the law" when people of color
are suspected of wrongdoing before they have even done anything? I
endorse the end of pretextual traffic stops and passage of the Traffic
Stops Statistics Act.

Community policing reduces police violence because police work and
live in the neighborhood. When police are not trained properly and
are not subject to penalties like everyone else, the system breaks
down and the critical public respect for the police force dissipates.

The prison industrial complex is a modern-day form of serfdom. The
extensive locking up of individuals, disproportionately people of
color, is an injustice, to say the least. There should be no
corporate prisons. Incarceration is a public responsibility, not a
private enterprise.

The failed War on Drugs has been responsible for the imprisonment of
many of our nation's citizens. Instead of criminalizing drug use by
jailing drug addicts, we need to spend more time, energy, and money on
treatment and prevention. We don't send alcoholics or nicotine
addicts to jail. Incarceration of people who need treatment and
economic opportunity is senseless. The Drug War has been a war
especially against the poor and people of color.

I actively supported the boycott against Coca-Cola, which aggressively
markets to Black consumers, yet discriminates against Blacks as
employees. Black employees at Coca-Cola are paid less than White
employees, and are underrepresented in top pay-grade levels.

I strongly support affirmative action measures in employment, which
seek equal pay and equal partnership, to remedy the effects of
discrimination. After more than 300 years of affirmative action to
benefit White males, we definitely need affirmative action for people
of color and women to offset historic wrongs as well as present-day
inequalities.

Another one of my battles has been to expose the biases of tests
administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Culturally
biased tests are denying poor youngsters of color and other poor youth
access to educational opportunities. Low-income families, often
desperate, exploited and situated in brutish surroundings, cannot
often offer a learning climate at home, or receive the same at
dilapidated schools, that leads to higher test scores.

African American teachers who do pass teacher tests score lower than
whites on average, but beginning African American teachers earn higher
performance ratings than their white counterparts, according to
"The Effects of Competency Testing on the Supply of Minority
Teachers," by Dr. G. Pritchy Smith, Professor at the University of
North Florida. I advocate the elimination of such multiple choice
standardized tests, which are a great barrier to opportunity for
low-income people of color.

I sponsored "Civics for Democracy," an educational guide,
which extensively addresses slavery, Jim Crow laws, school
desegregation, civil rights marches and boycotts events not dealt with
adequately in public school texts.

In 1993, our associates exposed home mortgage lenders who had been
involved in the illegal practice of racial "redlining." I was
involved in uncovering 49 home mortgage lenders across 16 cities that
made little or no loans in neighborhoods of color. After pinpointing
these practices, we called for federal investigation, prosecution, and
new regulations to address this racist practice, which discourages
people of color from pursuing home ownership.

When considering the grave injustices that have occurred in the past
and continue to occur in the present-day, it is necessary that we
implement a system of institutional "Marshall Plans" to
correct what has been taken away and is still being taken away from
African-Americans and their children in terms of economic and
educational opportunity, self confidence, and overall quality of life.

Randall Robinson writes in his book, The Debt: What America Owes to
Blacks, "When a government kills its own people or facilitates
their involuntary servitude and generalized victimization based on
group membership, then that government or its successor has a moral
obligation to materially compensate that group in a way that would
make it whole, while recognizing that material compensation alone can
never adequately compensate the victims of great human rights
crimes." This is not about cash for individuals. It is about a
wealthy white dominated society recognizing that major institutional
responses and democratic empowerment for those institutionally abused
as a group is an act of honor, justice and enlightened self-interest.

I hope this makes clear my past and present dedication and work for
the rights and remedies for people of color, and other poor Americans.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

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